Colossians 1:1-20.  There is always a danger for the church of Christ to lose sight of Christ himself — to get carried away with mere human traditions and leaders. Paul wrote Colossians to help the churches of Colossae zero in on who Christ is — to stay completely devoted to him. In this section, Paul reminds them that Christ is their head.

1. He commends Epaphras for his role in planting the churches, but reminds them that he is a faithful minister of the head, not the head himself (1-8).
2. He reminds them that they are saved not because of their own works, but the Father’s grace. He has both delivered them from the kingdom of darkness, and transferred them to the kingdom in which the Son is the head (9-14).
3. He reminds them that Christ’s authority is supreme. He is the firstborn of all creation, in that he was there creating in the beginning, and is there holding all things together now. He is firstborn from the dead, in that his death and resurrection has secured reconciliation between heaven and earth.

LORD, no matter how great the leaders who brought us to Christ, may we never lose sight of the fact that he is their head, and ours.